Purchase Order

Ability Sequence

Hi, you might have already read my first guide to Master Yi, found here. However, I feel that I have grown as a player, and my guide should reflect that. Here is my updated guide to Master Yi.

Here is my exact build:

Item Selection:
0)Sapphire Crystal + 2 Health Pots
---a)Sapphire can be built into BV later. Meki can't.
1)Vampire Scepter + Dagger (920g)
2)Berserker Greaves + Dagger (920g)
---b)I would start ganking at this point.
3)Malady (1170g)
4)Sword of the Occult (1195g?)
5)Infinity Edge (4080g)
---c)If they have lifesteal, get Executioner's Call first (1350g)
6)Phantom Dancer (3395g)
---d)Most of the time I only get to Infinity Edge.
---e)If you feel the need to get Banshee's Veil, I would do so either as soon as you see it affecting your ability to kill or after Occult.

EDIT: When you get to Sword of the Occult, if you are either new or having a bad game and think you are going to die often, you may skip this item. A good replacement is either zeal or just going straight to infinity (Thank you Joesis for pointing this out)

Play Style:

Early Game (Levels 1-5):
-First off, buy your Sapphire Crystal and health pots, and fight to the death to be allowed to solo! After your teammates leave you alone at mid, the fun will begin. Please note, the beginning of the match is the portion of time that absolutely requires the most skill, patience, and willpower. You may think that you can go ahead and gank Mr. I-have-a-tiny-sliver-of-health, but chances are, he's got a heal waiting or a friend in the bushes, and you don't have much to escape with. That being said, the beginning game should be played more defensively than usual. If you are soloing and not dying, you are WINNING. Just keep using your alpha strike to hit minions, which hopefully will accidentally hit nearby heroes. (A quick aside, try to not target other heroes with alpha strike, as you will always appear in front of your target. Instead, hit minions near them, and they will more than likely get hit by the attack). If you are getting totally destroyed in damage, get ONE point in Meditate instead of Wuju Style. After that, you can get the golem buff (after your first trip back) and it will be enough.
-Port back when you have enough for both your dagger and your scepter (920g), and again when you can finish your boots and buy another dagger(920g). Continue to do this until you hit level 6. Now is when the fun begins.

Mid Game (Levels 6-16):
-Your ganking career has just begun! If you successfully did not die (and maybe even got a kill early game), you should be one or two levels higher than the players in the top and bottom lane. Decide which is the best choice, and set up a gank. Hide in the bushes, then Alpha Strike to the target and pop Highlander, Wuju Style, and (if it's up) rally. They will go down like a drunk chick at Mardis Gras. If you succesfully get the last hit while Highlander is still up, all your cooldowns will reset, ready to destroy the next hero in sight!(another quick aside, something cool happens with Wuju when your cooldowns get reset. When they reset, you will still have the double-Wuju AS WELL AS the passive Wuju, until it ends. That means for a split second you have Triple Wuju!) It just gets better from here, my friend. Just keep pushing lanes, ganking heroes, and buying awesome ****. Once you hit 11, you will see a drastic increase in your ability to Gank, since your attack speed just drastically went up when you pop your ultimate.

Late game (Levels 17-18):
If you get anything from this guide, it's this. Yi with maxed items is better than almost any other champion with equivalent gold spent on said items. You will find that if you played your early and mid game even halfway well, the late game will feel completely broken to you. You can run in and kill multiple heroes all by yourself, and you can do massive damage to turrets. Here is where Yi really shines, as he can lead an entire team to victory simply because of the damage you can put out. Ride this to victory while you gloat about your +30 k/d spread!
Counters to Yi:

Before, I had a list of heroes here that could counter Yi. However, I decided just to add a few scenarios where Master Yi falls short.

1)Versus Blind/Dodge - Master Yi needs to hit things. It makes him happy. Without that lifesteal, you are going to fall over dead to heroes like Jax, Teemo, or someone else with alot of dodge. Either have Cleanse ready for Teemo, or calculate the lost damage before you make your move.

2) Versus Stunathon - Cleanse does help here, but don't always expect it to work. If you are the main target and they have multiple stuns, you probably aren't going to make it out of their alive, or even with a kill.

3)Versus Mega-Damage. Sometimes you can be sneaky and run in behind a goup of squishies, netting yourself a triple. However, if they can kill you before you land a hit, do not even attempt it.

4) Versus Lifesteal - I have found that other champions with lifesteal can put up a pretty good fight. Either have Executioner's Call or make sure you are a higher level and have better items.
Closing Thoughts:
I enjoy this build of Yi because he is viable at all levels, as well as being very powerful late game. I have put a lot of effort into testing this build, and I guarantee you that it will work if you play him right